I went on a Border Patrol ride-along in one of the most heavily crossed areas on the

I went on a Border Patrol ride-along in one of the most heavily crossed areas on the US-Mexico border — here's what happened

Daniel Brown
51 min ago

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The Border Patrol agents George Syer and Rene Quintanilla. Daniel Brown/Business Insider


MCALLEN, Texas — I was in Southern Texas covering the immigration crisis and separation of families for nearly a day when I got word that I had secured a Border Patrol ride-along.

"The Rio Grande sector accounts for about 40% of the apprehensions in the United States," a Border Patrol agent named Chris Seiler told me as we drove away from the station a few days later. "The McAllen station specifically is about 20% of the entire nation, and we catch about 300 individuals a day just in this 50-mile span of border."

For nearly five hours last Monday morning, I followed Seiler and another agent, Rene Quintanilla, around as they patroled on and around the Rio Grande, which separates the US and Mexico.

Here's what happened:

Seiler and Quintanilla first took me on a boat where I met a few more agents.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


For a couple of hours, we drove up and down the Rio Grande, periodically getting off to walk along the trails. The agents said that the boats, which are loud and fast, act as a deterrent against illegal crossings.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


Cartels and smuggling organizations often have spotters posted along the river to make sure the coast is clear before they send people across.

Sometimes the spotters even post up in abandoned houses or other structures like the one seen below.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


While some people try to walk or swim across, most people take boats or rafts across — and we saw multiple deflated rafts on the US shore from previous crossings.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


I asked Quintanilla why some asylum seekers cross illegally, and he said that while every case varies, some are forced to cross illegally by smugglers and cartels.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


The agents would often look for tracks on the trail to decipher if and when people had crossed over:

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We next got off at a trail along a large field of sugar cane.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


And we found more deflated rafts at the trailhead.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


Agent George Syer told me about the difficulties the sugar cane poses in the short video below:

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The agents said that one difficulty of their job is switching back and forth between a humanitarian mission and self-defense.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


Some Border Patrol agents have been accused of using mistreating migrants and using excessive force. Agents who follow the rules still encounter dangers and difficulties on the job, which takes a toll on them.

Agents are killed, shot at, regularly find dead bodies, and experience a lot of trauma.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider


Syer even said when they spot a boat trying to cross, that it's not uncommon for the crossers to throw a child off because they know the agents will go for the child first.

Quintanilla also said he (and other agents) do a lot of outreach work with local schools and the low-income housing areas known as colonias, and that several students he's spoken with later credited him with turning their lives around.

The agents later drove me to a run-down town called Los Ebanos, where many undocumented immigrants hide out in abandoned houses. There were also many stray dogs walking around that Quintanilla said they use sometimes to tell if someone is in the area.

(again, video problem...maybe later they will work?)

We last drove around under the bridges at the main port of entry in McAllen. Despite their sector being one of the most heavily crossed in the US, they didn't apprehend anyone, admitting that it was a slow morning.

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Daniel Brown/Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/i-wen...low-morning-13

If loud boats are a deterrent...set off Sonic Booms at random all along the river every 15 minutes!

In 2012 I went to Big Bend National Park. While there I walked down to a Hot Spring on the US side of the border. The Hot Spring was in the edge of the Rio Grande. I looked across the river and saw a tent with a person standing in front watching me. I quickly decided it was time to get away from there. I started walking back, and out of the corner of my eye, saw the person head for the river. Before I could get back up the path to where I had seen 2 Park Rangers, this person walked out of the bushes and was trying to sell me some trinkets. I shook my head, and kept on walking.

As soon as I saw the 2 Park Rangers, I reported what just happened. They listened shrugged their shoulders and went back to trimming the bush they had been working on. A few hours later, I told the lady working in the gift shop, and I got a lecture, about how harmless they were, and how poor the village was, and shame on me.

There were signs at the Park warning that US Citizens were not to buy the trinkets, we could be fined $500.00 for doing so, but there was no sign telling the invaders what their penalty would be.

There were also signs in all parking lots warning to lock cars, lots of theft etc.

They cross the River and put out their trinkets and collection jars all along the River, trashing a National Park, and from my experience The National Park Service does nothing or at least they didn't in 2012.

Sad, sick, and disgusting what they get away with even in our National Park.

stoptheinvaders

The illegal aliens also go to Yosemite...leave their trash at the shores of the waterfalls, I have picked it up.

They carve graffiti in the large redwood trees

They trash our State parks

They have NO respect for this country...I want them ALL deported...the whole family.

They defecate in the sand traps our beautiful Golf Course at 4am while waiting for the State Park to open. They set up their chairs on the course and ruin the greens.

The neighborhoods they take over are full of trash, out front, in the alley, the street, cars everywhere!

These people need to go home, they trashed their own country. I do NOT want them trashing mine.